Phowe bakchak: the nature of habitual patterns Chogyam Trungpa | Vajrayana Seminar 1981:) When our mind is protected from conditionality, that also tends to overcome further habitual patterns, which are called phowe bakchak ('pho.ba'i.bag.chags) in Tibetan. Got it? [Laughter.l Phowa means "transmigration" or "changing," "departing from one to another"; phowe makes it "of that." Bakchak is "habitual pattern." Habitual patterns of transmigration usually happen to us when one thought begins to die: when, for instance, we begin to lose interest in our orange juice, then we would like to order our coffee - which is the next thing. That is precisely the habitual pattern of transmigration: we get one thing; therefore we would like to change it to something else. We keep jumping like grasshoppers that way, throughout our lives. We would like to have something in exchange, constantly. That is phowe bakchak. There is also the tendency to be bored: this particular type of consciousness, or state of habitual patterns, is what allows us to miss the reference point of understanding what is known as the fourth moment. We will talk about the fourth moment much later on, but we could say a little bit about it now, just as a reference point. The first three moments are the past, present, and future; and then there is a fourth moment that transcends all past, present, and future. There is another moment, a pure moment that is not connected with what you have missed, what you are having, or what you are about to expect - the past, present, and future. The fourth moment is a pure state of consciousness, free from habitual tendencies: it is pure, clear. So phowe bakchak is that which does not contain the fourth moment state of mind. In other words, phowe bakchak allows no abruptness: it doesn't like shocks of any kind. You would just like to relax a little bit and take your time; have your juice and then your coffee, and maybe a cigarette afterwards; just lounge around and have a pleasurable life. You would just like to lead your life in the habitual patterns that you used to enjoy; you recreate them all over again. Phowe bakchak is one of the problems that makes it difficult to practice patience, particularly in the vajrayana sense. The habitual tendency of phowe bakchak is one of the outstanding problems that keeps you from being able to receive proper transmission. Usually, when a student receives proper transmission from a vajra master, that transmission is an abrupt one; it usually cuts thought, cuts mind abruptly, on the spot. The habitual tendency of phowe bakchak completely goes against that: you would just like to socialize a little bit more with your samsaric mind. So mantra, or yeshe, cuts through that.
